We woke up and checked out Manjas foot. Not terrible! She could hobble along slowly. As we were getting ready we wanted to pick up the ice-pack from our hosts…. But they had already gone out. Damn. We wrote them asking when they would be back so we could grab the ice-pack and they said “Don’t worry, just go in and grab it from the freezer!”
Oh, Right! We’re in the middle of nowhere, locking doors is optional. Fantastic! Two minutes later, ice-pack on foot, we drove to a small breakfast cafe Manja had found for us. Turns out they didn’t have a menu, but the waiter suggested a simple but nice breakfast for us – Toasted Ciabatta with fresh tomatoes, Avocado and grilled cheese. Simple but really delicious with fresh produce. Turns out the place was an art gallery cafe, so we had a look at some of the art as well. None of it spoke to us enough to buy, but it was nice anyway.
As we moved, the cold pack kept slipping off Manjas foot, so I McGuyvered my belt to hold it in place. I was pretty happy with my engineering prowess 😀
Next stop would be a salt shop – Manja loves these – but it was closed when we arrived. Next door was a supermarket of local produce though, so we browsed that for a bit  and decided to come back to it another day when the salt place was open.
On the way to the next stop, Google said drive left, so we did. 500 meters later it told us to take the 4th exit on the next roundabout…. Â Also known as doing a U-Turn. We were just about to do so when we saw an old-timer exhibition on the other side of the road, so we completed the u-turn and stopped for the exhibition. Turns out that this was pretty much a meeting of the old-timer owners on the island, many of whom still just drove their cars as regular transport!
Being old-timer out, we wanted some time on a beach and decided to head over to Platja de ses Salines, a nearby beach. It had a carpark fee, but was totally worth it. Unfortunately the water was still a bit cold for swimming – but was perfect for Manjas foot. Ice pack no longer needed! We spent a bit of time sitting around on the beach before slowly wandering up to one of the bars. Turned out to be an expensive tourist trap, so we kept on walking – all the way to a so-called “Holy stone” where we saw not only the stone, but also some lizards darting about. We decided to put the newly acquired tripod to good use to get a few close-ups of the colourful guys!
Rebellious Simon
On the way back I could not help but be a rebel…  You may have to zoom in to get it 😉
As is our way, we collected abandoned plastic as we walked, carting a full bag off the beach by the end.
Rubbish
We thought we would head into the local town to get some fro-yo but the shop was closed and the area somehow uninviting. It felt abandoned – but I think that’s just because the tourist season hasn’t started yet. Importantly though, the place confirmed that I am a VIP:
Who’s the VIP?
Being 4pm, we decided to try for an early dinner at a cafe which was a 5 minute drive away….  Which turned out to sell €500 bottles of champagne with matching food, which we decided was a biiiit too pricey for an early dinner 😉
While I walked back to fetch the car, Manja found another cafe with a nice name: Â Yemanja! We just had to give it a crack. Toward the end of our drive there we hit a tiny winding road toward the beach. Weirdly it had taxis streaming in the opposite direction. We didn’t think much of it, until we got to a point where there was a guy on the road, who directed us into to a carpark on the gravel area next to the road, Festival style, but free. Â Errr… Â Okay….
We decided to go with it, so we followed the crowd. Wearing a T-Shirt and shorts, I felt much underdressed, but Manjas confidence persisted and we walked to the restaurant. Once there we had a look at the menu, a bit pricy but not terrible. Manja asked off-handedly if they have an event and the Maitre’d looked a bit disappointed and said, “No, that’s next door. It’s a good party if that is what you want, we are just a restaurant.” Manja totally charmed her with a confused look while saying “No, we are just hungry and want to eat. No party needed”. The Maitre’d beamed and said “Well! Then you are in the right place!” We immediately got two seats at a beautiful table with an ocean view. They even moved it half a meter into the shade for us when we realised that we would burn lobster red if we stayed there. I have no ideas how people managed in the full sun… Â (Well, actually I do. Loads of alcohol!)
We had a pretty nice Chicken Paella. Service was slow, but it was a fantastic people watching event. Retrospectively I should have taken some better pictures of the crowd! This place had everything from 16 year olds, to glamour couples to rich old guys….  You know, the whole spectrum one could expect! The table next to us had the most amusing group of locals – a few guys who were joined for drinks by streams of girls dressed to impress. All was fun and games until the bill came and the boys all got a bit pale, but split the bill before heading to the party next door. Based on the wad of €50 notes the waiter carried away I’m guessing their hip-pockets were hurting.
Our dinner meanwhile was delicious but too big for us to finish. We skipped dessert and headed off, almost swimming against the stream of people still arriving.
For sunset we wanted to get to the spot where Manja twisted her ankle, because its supposed to be an excellent spot for sunsets and it’s not actually well known for twisted ankles. When we got there we realised that others had the same information, with no carpark to be had nearby. I dropped Manja off and drove around a bit before finding one about 10 minutes away. I rushed back to make it just in time for sunset – and it was pretty as always.
By the time we walked back to the car Manja was completely exhausted. We quickly rinsed the sand off us before dropping to bed for a reasonably early night…  Well, I wrote this blog, and she’s sleeping next to me right now as I am finishing it 🙂
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